Steam Single

In terms of the ability to pull a 'perfect' shot of espresso and steam milk with good texture, I'd say the base Rancilio Silvia with any good grinder is the mark.  I've owned a range of lower end machines and for example I wouldn't recommend the Gaggia Classic to anyone, despite it pulling a good shot in the right hands. I have disassembled the boilers on several and the corroded aluminium inside after 5 years is the stuff of nightmares. But I've also used a Slayer as a barista and it doesn't objectively pull a better shot than my current Silvia with home-installed PID.  There are some big quality of life upgrades available a tier or two above the base Silvia, like built in PID, dual boiler etc. But the Silvia has solid components, everything is replaceable, and it can produce a latte 100% as good as what I could produce on the Slayer. 

Your 90% to a Slayer! Go for that man

I was considering a mini or GS3 but went Slayer. Note OP needs a better grinder (I prefer Kafatek flat max), and needs to confirm appropriate water before worrying more about the machine IMO Otherwise, there's another ~2k in making sure that the water is correct.

My hot take: Short answer is no. Even as a moderate discretionary expense, it did not represent great value for home use. It's very limited in capability (flat 9 bar, no pre-infusion without plumb-in, don't blather about pre-brew), but it does what it does extremely well. However, unless that is basically brewing a dozen shots back-to-back while steaming milk simultaneously on the regular, I don't see the value. So I installed it at the office, where 20-30 people abused it to the tune of 50+ shots per day and it was a champ. Easiest -- and the most heroically consistent -- with medium/dark italian style spro and milk drinks. On the other hand -- anyone who says the price premium is for the brand/badging alone hasnt looked inside. It is an exquisite piece of intentional and at times clever engineering. From the quality of the fittings and valves to the self-cleaning gicleur and cold water mixing at the grouphead -- this thing will outlive you if it's maintained well. It's just a pity that it seems to lack even basic modern niceties (proper pump pre-infusion, shot timer) There are other annoyances that soured me personally: the La Marzocco Home app and cloud integration is stupid stupid stupid. I mean just stupid. Why do I need the cloud to be able to schedule power on or set the fucking brew temperature? Don't bother, we all know the answer, and it is tragic that marketing dunces convinced someone at La Marzocco that IoTing appliances is a good idea. To add further (perhaps controversial) perspective: I had the LMLM on my bench alongside a Slayer Single, Flair58, and Londinium Vectis. Best in cup (but worst workflow): Flair58 for all roast levels. Next was the Vectis (for medium and light roast coffees), followed very closely by the Slayer. LMLM trailed except for darker italian style ristrettos that explicitly preferred flat-9 extractions. /end rant

You want the best? Straight to the Slayer you go.

Just buy cold brew concentrate- that will be better than what you can get from a crappy machine and has no learning curve Stumptown is solid and has nation distribution (I believe) - you can buy a wand frother if you prefer hot over cold latte, however whole milk and stump town concentrate will get the job done and be better Or buy a kafatek grinder and Slayer espresso machine and stop being a scrub :)

I'm guessing you don't hear more about it because there is a private forum for Decent owners & they spend their time there where the threads are Decent specific & they get help from Decent users rather than people who have heard things about these machines & make comments. I owned a DE1Pro for \~4 years. Initially I loved it. Then I realized that after that initial period I no longer wanted to make changes to recipes & I was just using one or two and most of its capabilities were lost on me. Then I started to hate the sound of it, the mouthfeel was lacking & it just looked ugly compared to traditional machines. The Decent hadn't changed, I had and my needs had changed. Thankfully it's very easy to resell & retains its value. I will say that the best thing about the Decent IMO is the company & CEO that stand behind it. Very good support & service with an affordable warranty that can be renewed as the machine ages.

I don't know. When I got the Slayer I compared it to the Decent and there was an immediate and noticeable difference in mouthfeel shot for shot. I also compared a Slayer profile on the Decent with the Slayer and there was no similarity between the two.